As multilingual content becomes more important for online sellers targeting new markets, here are seven things to consider when translating content, Jennifer Chew of Smartling writes.

JenniferChew-Smartling

Jennifer Chew

In 2018, business-to-business ecommerce sales through websites and online marketplaces surpassed $1 trillion for the first time, according to data published in the 2019 U.S. B2B Ecommerce Market Report. And in today’s global marketplace, with an increase in ecommerce sales comes an increased demand for ecommerce websites translated in languages from all over the world.

As more organizations elect to enter new markets to capitalize on growing ecommerce opportunity, they quickly realize the complexities of content translation and localization. They may have thousands of listings to translate into multiple languages, along with a number of translators and reviewers to coordinate. This calls for a more efficient way to keep track of it all.

Several telltale signs can indicate the need for a translation management system. Here are seven questions to ask yourself:

1—Are you translating large volumes of content?

Perhaps you started with the intention of completing a modest translation project, but once you factored in the content you have spread across landing pages, support websites, marketing automation platforms, and several client portals, you realized your project isn’t so small after all.

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A translation management system (TMS) can integrate with your product information management (PIM) system, marketing automation platform, content management system (CMS), and other tools to streamline your content management process. And having all of your content in one centralized location makes it easier to keep tabs on your translation projects.

2—Do you have difficulty tracking the progress of your translations?

Monitoring all of your translation projects, including existing jobs and multiple translators, can be quite overwhelming, especially if done manually. While using spreadsheets may be free, it’s far from efficient.

A TMS leverages automation and artificial intelligence to get the work done faster. It also offers a bird’s eye view of every translation project, task, job, translator, and their progress.

3—Is your translation time-to-market painfully slow?

A good translation takes time. However, the translation process is too often bogged down by inefficient processes like manually sending spreadsheets via email, internally reviewing content, and having developers tweak your web or app designs to accommodate the translated content.

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A TMS offers automated workflows that keep your translation projects moving forward. Visual context gives translators the ability to see precisely how their translations will look within your existing design, allowing them to make changes on the fly that will alleviate the need for developers to create more complex changes later.

4—Do your bilingual employees create your translations?

On the surface, it makes a ton of sense to leverage the resources you already have. However, in this case, it may be doing more harm than good. Just because someone is bilingual doesn’t make them a great translator and certainly not a knowledgeable resource for your localization efforts. Moreover, due to the time commitment involved with translation projects, the employee’s primary role will likely suffer, which can lead to a decrease in morale.

A TMS enables full-time translators to leverage their experience to deliver the highest quality translations possible, connecting you with your target audiences faster and on a deeper level.

5—Is it challenging to communicate with translators?

Keeping the lines of communication open with translators is the key to publishing content that perfectly captures your brand’s voice in a different language. It’s essential to treat your translators like an extension of your team.

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Have them work collaboratively with your content creators and make it easy to share revised content back and forth to create the best outcome possible. A translation management system can make collaboration easy and effortless, keeping your translation projects on track.

6—Is it impossible to track and measure KPIs?

Another downside to using spreadsheets and email to keep track of your translation projects is all the data you’re missing out on. How will you know if you’re achieving your goals?

A TMS is continually working in the background, tracking a variety of data points, ready to report back to you on demand. You can then use what you’ve learned to tweak and optimize your translation process even further.

7—Can your current process scale with demand?

Do you have a tight deadline in which your goal is to launch your brand in an entirely new market? Are you relying on spreadsheets and manual processes to achieve this goal? If so, be prepared to hit a massive bottleneck in production.

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By leveraging a TMS, you’ll have one centralized location to manage all of your content. This way, it’s easy to zero in on what’s moving quickly and what requires additional support to complete on time. Additionally, a TMS uses automation to free up translators to work on critical tasks and reduce time spent on simple, repetitive tasks.

A modern, cloud-based TMS is designed to be agile and efficient, helping you create a consistent user experience across all regions and in any language. The more questions you answered yes to, the more likely you would benefit from a translation management system to streamline your entire translation process, to reduce time, cut costs, and increase collaboration, making it easier to connect with new audiences around the globe.

Jennifer Chew is a product marketing manager at Smartling, a provider of content translation technology and services.

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